While handles may be sewn on a strip of material in a variety of applications, perhaps the most common application for such sewing is in sewing handles on the border strip of a mattress, inner spring or the like. Since such handles are used to lift heavy mattresses, they must be strong, one way of achieving such strength being to fold over the ends of the stock used for forming each handle to form a double thickness at the ends where sewing is performed. However, it is also important that the handles have an attractive appearance. The folds, in addition to providing to strength, also give a cleaner look to the ends of the handle. However, for good aesthetic appearance, the folds on both ends of each handle should be of substantially the same length, both layers of each fold should be perfectly aligned and the handle should lie substantially flat against the mattress when not in use.
Heretofore, such aesthetically pleasing handles have been achieved only by using semiautomated techniques for sewing the handles, it otherwise being difficult to compensate for skewing of fold ends, stretching of for example the border material which may prevent the handle from laying flat and various factors influencing the length of the folds. However, any machine requiring a skilled operator is more expensive to operate than a fully automated machine and semi-automated machines are also significantly slower. A fully automated machine operating under computer control can also provide greater flexibility in the jobs that can be performed and the way the jobs are performed, for example permitting borders for different sized mattresses to be handled without expensive hand readjustments of the machine.
In view of the above, it would be preferable if a machine and a method for the operation thereof could be developed which would permit the filly automated sewing of handles on mattress border stock or other suitable strips of material at relatively high speed while still achieving quality, aesthetically pleasing handles.